Movie Review: Whit Stillman's "Damsels in Distress"

Hi everyone!

The '90s will always be equated in my mind with the films of the incomparable writer and director Whit Stillman: "Metropolitan," (1990) "Barcelona" (1994) and "The Last Days of Disco," (1998) a loosely connected satirical trilogy that defined a decade and a generation. Twentysomething angst was never portrayed as wittily, poignantly, or as precociously as it was in these films. Stillman made stars of Chris Eigemann, Mira Sorvino, Chloe Sevigny, and Kate Beckinsdale. It's been twelve years since Stillman's made a film. Now, in 2012, we have Stillman's latest "Damsels in Distress."

I wish I could say that "Damsels" is a flawless return to form. While there is much to like here, I can't give it a strong recommendation. It is definitely worth seeing though--especially if you're a fan of his earlier films which have earned a cult-like status among film buffs--but more often than not I found the film lacking. The story revolves around a group of college co-eds in what is presumably an East Coast college, led by the blonde-haired Violet (played by a rather bland Greta Gerwig), a pretty but depressive girl who has reinvented herself into a kind of ice queen with a heart of gold. Violet and her florally-named cohorts act as a kind of moral authority at their school, championing suicide prevention through tap dance, good hygiene, and donuts. Violet's earnest confidence is shaken when she catches her genuinely stupid pseudo-boyfriend in the arms of one of her converts. She seeks solace off-campus at a Motel 4 ("It's like a Motel 6 but even cheaper") and is saved from committing suicide herself by the scent of a bar of soap in her motel room bathroom. Violet returns to campus with a new mission: if everyone at the school received a bar of soap like the one she smelled in her motel room, the world would be a happier place.

Meanwhile we also have Lily, a transfer student who is recruited into Violet's group during new student orientation. Lily (a charming Annaleigh Tipton) is in love with Frenchman Xavier ("Gossip Girl" alum Hugo Becker) who introduces her to the 'mysticism' of Cathar lovemaking while being charmed by Charlie (a likable Adam Brody) who turns out to be not at all whom he claims to be.

Add into the mix a soft-focused Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers-inspired song and dance number and the Sambola! an 'international dance craze', and you pretty much have the film in a nutshell. I will say that the biggest laughs for me come in the last five minutes which are totally random and really really funny.

The problem I have with the film is that it never lives up to its potential. Granted, a particularly high standard has been set based on Stillman's previous films. There are a handful of zingy one-liners and some mildly amusing social commentary but on the whole the film lacks focus. Promising elements introduced early on disappear in the film's rather cumbersome middle section only to make a welcome return in the third act. I also found myself longing for a more charismatic leading lady. It's clear that Stillman wrote the role of Violet with someone like Chloe Sevigny in mind. Greta Gerwig even looks like Sevigny but she lacks Ms. Sevigny's understated acerbic quality. Instead, Ms. Gerwig more often than not delivers her lines as though she was reading them from her script. It's kind of hard to care too much about what happens to her. Earnestness never looked or sounded so dead.

I couldn't help but feel the whole premise of the film is stale. And while it might sound sacrilegious to die-hard Stillman fans, I think "Gossip Girl" (which shares some similarities with Stillman's oeuvre) in its funniest, most satirical moments is sharper and more nuanced than what we've got in "Damsels in Distress." Leighton Meester's Blair Waldorf would be right at home in Stillman's world and she'd probably make it a whole lot more fun.

By all means, go and see "Damsels in Distress" if for no other reason than its final sequence. It's great to have Stillman back and I hope we don't have to wait another twelve years for his next film. But in the meantime, I'll be revisiting Stillman's 1990s and watching the fifteen or so "Gossip Girl" episodes I have taking up space on my DVR.

Ciao.